Consultant Training Australia is run by Ian Benjamin and his associates.
We serve consulting firms, internal consulting units, professional fee based firms, associations of consultants (and other professions) and independent consultants.
We train, we facilitate and we consult.
Who Are We
I'm Ian Benjamin, Principal Consultant and Executive Director of CTA since 1987. Andrew Crawford has joined CTA as Senior Consultant in 2017. My colleagues who represent CTA are Dr Renee Lim, Margaret Pimblett, Helen Fletcher and Glenda May.
In the late 1980's I joined a group of seven independent consultants once a month for lunch. Our agenda was that each person either 'brought a problem or brought a solution' to the meeting. This combined with my background in commerce and education led to taking an interest in and advising consultants on how to develop their businesses.
My business was originally working with clients from my merchant banking days. Then I contracted to the Australian Merchant Bankers' Association and in 1991 ran my first 'How to be a Successful Consultant course'.
My career background is on LinkedIn and is characterised by not staying too long at any one place, but all of them good places to be. In essence, it involves 6 years in marketing, 6 years in education (lecturing, teaching, administration and leadership) and 6 years of banking and finance. Some of these were composite roles.
In training consultants, these three elements were integrated. The connection with banking and finance is that I was continually assessing the viability of other people's business plans. Some of the principles in assessing viability from a banker's point of view are equally valid in considering how successful a consultancy might become: plausibility of business idea; functionality of business model; awareness of cash flow; commerciality of the applicant, character - amongst others.
Professional Bodies
To whom we have delivered services either directly or to their members:
AAAC - Australian Association of Agricultural Consultants (1994 - 2009)
CPA Australia - Certified Practising Accountants (1994 - 2012 - every year EY)